CALGARY – Surely all the talk surrounding Matthew Tkachuk’s annual return to Calgary with the Panthers is something MacKenzie Weegar hasn’t particularly enjoyed in the past.
Ditto for Jonathan Huberdeau.
Neither flourished with their new organization from the start like Tkachuk did.
However, with the former Flames star in town Monday, the narrative surrounding one of the biggest trades in recent NHL history has changed of late.
No longer does the storyline revolve around the disparate paths taken by the two forwards since their relocation.
This time the focus is on Weegar, who is having the best season of the trade’s three principles.
Weegar’s eighth goal of the season Saturday put him three ahead of Tkachuk, and just one goal back of the NHL scoring lead amongst defencemen, behind Norris Trophy frontrunner Quinn Hughes.
Matching his career-best goal total just 31 games into the season, Weegar is also tied with Cale Makar and Evan Bouchard.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for the 29-year-old who didn’t score his first goal with the Flames until last New Year’s Eve.
“It feels good,” smiled Weegar, when asked about keeping pace with several of the game’s best blue liners.
“I’m honestly just happy I’m contributing.
“It’s coming every game right now and I’ve got to let it ride a little bit.
“I’m just trying to be a threat out there – our whole defensive core is getting our shots through.
“It’s nice they are going in and I’m (just) behind Quinner.”
So, he’s okay with being asked regularly about keeping pace with the Canucks captain?
“Please, keep talking,” chuckled the personable Ottawa native.
“I’m a little superstitious, so just take me one-on-one and let’s talk about it here.”
That part is up to him, but given how uncanny his ability is to get pucks through traffic from the blue line this year, it’s a good bet he can stay in the scoring race with the big boys.
After all, his focus has been on shooting at a significantly higher rate.
After a slow start in Calgary last season, Weegar started flourishing with the Flames after Christmas last year where he demonstrated just how dominant a defender he can be.
His second-half surge at both ends of the ice earned him an invite to represent Canada at the World Championship where he was named the tourney’s top defenceman.
He has parlayed that into a dominant start that has Huberdeau urging his age-old buddy to aim for another coveted invite.
“He’s having a tremendous year, and I said to him this morning, ‘you’ve got to push to go to the all-star game,’” said Huberdeau.
“It’s still far away, but I think he’s up there for our team.”
“I knew what he could do, because in Florida he played really well.
“At the end (Aaron) Ekblad was hurt and Weegs was our number one defenceman.
“I feel like he’s playing really well defensively, and offensively he’s shooting more.
“They’ve been going in more.
“We still call him the Muffin Man.”
They’ve joked about how heavy his shot has been all year, despite the fact his shooting percentage is a career-high 10.3%.
Even after he went end to end before blasting his first overtime winner past Adin Hill to beat the defending champs, the lads chirped him for days.
With eight goals and 11 assists, his 19 points have him tied for 20th amongst defencemen, while playing more than 22 minutes a night.
On pace to eclipse the 44 points he posted two years ago in Florida, it’s fair to ask if he’s playing the best hockey of his career.
“I’d say the Covid year was probably the best I’ve felt, but I’d say this is pretty close offensively, yeah,” said Weegar, who signed an eight-year, $50 million extension with the Flames last year.
“Defensively I think I can still be a bit better in areas, but contributing offensively has been great.”
Traded to Calgary with Huberdeau, a conditional first-round pick and Cole Schwindt in the summer of 2022, the deal that was heralded at first has been seen as horrifically lopsided given Huberdeau’s struggles last season and Tkachuk’s ascension to Hart Trophy finalist.
Huberdeau is still searching desperately to regain his touch, sitting at four goals and 11 assists.
However, Weegar has more goals than Tkachuk this season, as the former Flame has seen his scoring pace slow to five goals and 16 assists in 30 outings.
The Panthers arrived in town early Sunday morning tied for third in the east, while the Flames are tenth in the west.
With the Flames fighting to stay in the playoff hunt, Monday’s game is as important as it is awkward for those involved in the swap.
“It’s always going to be weird,” said Weegar, who planned to spend Sunday with former teammates like Ekblad, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov.
“There’s obviously a lot of good buddies, but it’s another team you want to shut down.
“When you see them after the game you want them to be pissed off and you want to walk out with a big smile on your face.”
That smile has certainly been much more prominent for Weegar this season than last.
NOTE: After fracturing a finger and missing seven games, Jakob Markstrom was removed from the injury reserve list Sunday and was a full participant in practice. Dustin Wolf was subsequently demoted to the AHL’s Wranglers, as was defenceman Ilya Solovyov, hinting strongly that Chris Tanev will be healthy enough to return to action Monday.
